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07/27/2005: A Story of Kindness and Helping
Been meaning to write about this story that was in our Golf Digest Magazine about the extraordinary kindness and good heartedness of John Daly.
Grip it, rip it and share it by Bob Verdi (Golf World):"...In 1991 John Daly was nothing when he entered the PGA Championship at Crooked Stick GC, just outside Indianapolis. He wasn't yet Wild Thing whose "Grip It and Rip It" doctrine soon would captivate audiences worldwide. He was the ninth alternate in the field, replacing Nick Price. The rest, as they say, is hysteria. Daly won against all odds, fast-forwarding a career that has elevated him to star status.
But during the first round in 1991, a violent storm enveloped Crooked Stick, and as spectators scurried toward shelter, one of them didn't make it. Tom Weaver was struck by lightning and died instantly. He was 39. He left behind a wife and two girls. Little could he have imagined how they would have been picked up by a mere golfer after that tragedy. "I felt I was almost responsible for him being killed," Daly recalls in a lengthy interview appearing in August's Golf Digest.
So after receiving his $230,000 check, Daly dedicated $30,000 toward the education of Karen, 8 at the time, and Emily, who was 12. Daly was engaged to his second wife then and already was juggling debts and demons. But this rabid drinker, gambler and smoker also is a compulsive giver, and Daly says the donation was a no-brainer, which tells you a lot about what's beneath all those logos.
...
Big news. [fastforward to this year]
Karen would be graduating from Indiana University, where she majored in biology, with plans to become a doctor. And then Emily--now Emily Edmondson, of Oswego, Ill.--was going to earn her degree as a respiratory therapist from College of DuPage, not far from Chicago. Steve and Dee wanted Big John to know about the fruits of his largesse, and Daly was touched. "It's amazing what a little money can do when it's spent on the right reason," Daly said at last week's Cialis Western Open, where he admitted he's liking life more now and dwelling less on negatives...."
Karen on 07.27.05 @ 12:04 PM CST
